Una vita normale, 2007

Fourteen gilded frames are arranged in such a way as to recall one large “frame” inscribed within a pattern of rectangles of the same size outlined all across the wall. Applied to each frame is the torn fragment of a terrestrial planisphere featuring a letter, thus composing, clockwise and starting from the first frame at the top left, the phrase “una vita normale” (a normal life), also the title of the work. Each time the fragments are located according to the position of the specific frame with respect to the whole.
Located at a short distance from the wall is a plexiglas plinth, around the bottom of which is a circle of torn fragments from printed reproductions of the Earth’s two hemispheres, while other photographic details taken from the same source are crumpled up inside the plinth. Atop the base is a case with the fragments of a map of the stars, held down by a plexiglas sheet.
The gilded frames, the virtual paintings, and the planisphere metaphorically represent elements of the “normal life” of the artist who, forever starting from scratch, in his everyday world, must come to terms with the attempt to fix in the space of the representation (suggested by the framing of the frames and by the rectangles) an elusive dimension (symbolically alluded to by the cosmic elements). The gilded frames—in Paolini’s oeuvre gold is always a symbol of sublime fulfilment—evoke the ideal painting, which the artist seeks to catch sight of, although he is well aware of the fact that it is impossible to touch that Absolute with his hand.
The work is the second formulation of a theme conceived of in 2005 (GPO-0900).